Firewire Adapters? or Good USB Interfaces

Lowberg

Member
Aug 26, 2004
2,433
23
38
Rochester, NY
Hey guys, I've been doing a lot of home recording for sometime now, up until now I've been using a Line6 UX2 as my interface and its been working well, but I am wanting to be able to record drums or anything that could use more than 2 inputs at once,

The only problem is, my dell laptop was built only with USB2.0 connections and no fire wire connections :(

I've been looking for USB interfaces with larger tracking capabilities, but ive really only been able to find the Tascam US-1641 (which i did a little research about and heard WAY too many bad things about) and the Line6 UX8 which is so new so I cant find any reviews on it.

I was also wondering if buying a PCMCIA card firewire port for my laptop, would be a workable option. I don't know if it would be as effective as normal built-in firewire ports or cause problems.


If anyone could help me out or point me in a good direction that would be awesome!
 
A Firewire card can be just as effective as a built-in firewire port, sometimes moreso - though I'm not sure which are good and which aren't, so that's a question best answered by someone else. But the good ones are definitely out there!
 
Yeah dude, get yourself a FireWire PCMCIA card and you're set. :)

I would recommend a Focusrite Saffire Pro 26i/o for the interface. I own one and LOVE it. I also have a MOTU 8Pre which I love. The 8Pre is connected to the Saffire via ADAT, also I have a Behringer ADA8000 running into the Saffire via ADAT. So I am 24-track capable :)

What is your budget for an interface?

~006
 
trying to keep it under 600 bucks, I'm not trying to make a "professional studio" just trying to get something that works that i can use for fun and works well and sounds good.